Sensory Irritation and Inflammatory Responses with Topical Application of Some Chemical Meditors

Abstract

The problem of epicutaneous sensory irritation in relation to safety of external preparations requires attention because cosmetic materials such as phenoxyethanol and parabens induce epicutaneous sensory irritation. In order to investigate the cause of epicutaneous sensory imitative materials, chemical mediators such as histamine, prostaglandin-E₁, -E₂ and F_2α and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) and bradykinin with concentration of 0.003mol were applied on human cheek sites for only 5 minutes, and then washed off. At the same time, progress of the inflammatory reaction induced by the above chemical mediators was observed by using a device measuring skin temperature by infrared rays. According to the results, we report the relationship between epicutaneous sensory irritation and inflammatory reaction, caused by external use of chemical mediators.